Method and device for data transmission

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method and device for data transmission. The method for data transmission includes: when a base station supports multiple radio access technologies, determines radio access technologies respectively supported by RE&#39;s two ports, and transmits data corresponding to the radio access technologies respectively through the two ports. With the technical solutions provided in embodiments of the present invention, the base station can support multiple radio access technologies and transmit service data and control data corresponding to multiple radio access technologies.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2010/071122, filed on Mar. 18, 2010, which claims priority toChinese patent application No. 200910129507.6, filed on Mar. 20, 2009,both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to communications technologies, and inparticular, to a method and device for data transmission.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) specifications are specificationsfor an interface between a REC (Radio Equipment Controller) and a RE(Radio Equipment) inside a radio base station. A CPRI includes threeplanes: a user data plane, a management and control plane, and asynchronization control plane. According to related protocols, the CPRIis divided into three layers: a physical layer (Layer 1, L1), a linklayer (Layer 2, L2), and an application layer (Layer 3, L3). To knowabout topology information about a CPRI link (including header andtailor information, and RE position information about the CPRI link),the REC transmits service data (for example, IQ data) and control data(for example, HDLC (High-level Data Link Control) data) over the CPRIlink, and performs TOP scan (Topology Scan).

A base station that can simultaneously support multiple radio accesstechnologies is available in the prior art, which is called a multi-modebase station. However, the CPRI link between the REC and RE in aconventional multi-mode base station only supports a unitary radioaccess technology.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a methodfor data transmission. The method includes:

-   -   when base station supports multiple radio access technologies,

determining, by a radio equipment (RE) in a base station, the radioaccess technologies supported respectively by the RE's two ports; and

transmitting data corresponding to the radio access technologiesrespectively by using the two ports.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention providesanother method for data transmission. The method includes:

when a base station supports multiple radio access technologies,receiving, by a radio equipment (RE) in the base station, through afirst port, downlink data that is corresponding to a first group ofradio access technology and is sent by a REC, and obtaining, by the RE,downlink data of the RE from the downlink data corresponding to thefirst group of radio access technology; and

by the RE, combining uplink data corresponding to a second group ofradio access technology supported by a second REC with the downlink datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology, and thensending, through a second port, the combined data to the second REC.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention providesanother method for data transmission. The method includes:

when a base station supports multiple radio access technologies,

by a radio equipment (RE) in the base station, receiving, through afirst port, downlink data that is corresponding to a first group ofradio access technology and is sent by a first REC, and sending, throughthe first port, uplink data corresponding to the first group of radioaccess technology to the first REC; and

receiving, by the RE, through a second port, downlink data that iscorresponding to a second group of radio access technology and is sentby a second REC, and sending, by the RE, through the second port, uplinkdata corresponding to the second group of radio access technology to thesecond REC.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention providesanother method for data transmission. The method includes:

when a base station supports multiple radio access technologies,

receiving, by a second REC in the base station, data sent from a firstREC, wherein when passing through a RE, the data sent by the first RECis added with the data sent by the RE to the second REC; and

-   -   obtaining, by the second REC, from the received data, the data        corresponding to the radio access technology supported by the        second REC.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention providesanother method for data transmission. The method includes:

when a base station supports multiple radio access technologies,

by a first radio equipment controller (REC) in the base station,receiving uplink data that is corresponding to a first group of radioaccess technology and is sent by a radio equipment (RE) through a firstport, and sending downlink data corresponding to the first group ofradio access technology; and

by a second REC in the base station, receiving uplink data that iscorresponding to a second group of radio access technology and is sentby the RE through a second port, and sending downlink data correspondingto the second group of radio access technology to the RE.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides abase station device supporting multiple radio access technologies. Thebase station device includes: an RE, a first REC supporting a firstgroup of radio access technology, and a second REC supporting a secondgroup of radio access technology.

The first REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to thefirst group of radio access technology to the RE.

The RE is configured to receive, through a first port, from the secondREC, the downlink data corresponding to the first group of radio accesstechnology, obtain data of the RE from the received downlink datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology, and combineuplink data corresponding to a second group of radio access technologywith the downlink data corresponding to the first group of radio accesstechnology and send the combined data through a second port.

The second REC is configured to receive the data which is sent by the REthrough the second port, and obtain, from the received data, the uplinkdata corresponding to the second group of radio access technology.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides abase station device supporting multiple radio access technologies. Thebase station device includes: an RE, a first REC supporting a firstgroup of radio access technology, and a second REC supporting a secondgroup of radio access technology.

The first REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to afirst group of radio access technology to the RE and receive uplink datathat is corresponding to the first group of radio access technology andis sent by the RE.

The second REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to asecond group of radio access technology to the RE and receive uplinkdata that is corresponding to the second group of radio accesstechnology and is sent by the RE.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides anRE, including an interface module and a signal processing module.

The interface module is configured to obtain service data of the RE fromdownlink service data corresponding to a first group of radio accesstechnology, wherein the downlink service data is sent by a first REC andis received by the RE through a first.

The signal processing module is configured to receive from the interfacemodule the downlink service data corresponding to the first group ofradio access technology, and send uplink service data corresponding to asecond group of radio access technology supported by a second REC to theinterface module.

The interface module combines the uplink service data that iscorresponded to the second group of radio access technology and isreceived from the signal processing module, with the downlink servicedata corresponding to the first group of radio access technology, andthen sends, through a second port, the combined data to the second REC.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides anRE, including an interface module and a signal processing module.

The interface module is configured to receive, through a first port,downlink service data received by the RE through a first port and sentby a first REC, wherein the downlink service data sent by the first RECis corresponds to a first group of radio access technology REC and sendthe received downlink service data to the signal processing module; andreceive, through a second port, downlink service data that iscorresponding to a second group of radio access technology and is sentby a second REC, and send the downlink service data to the signalprocessing module.

The signal processing module is configured to receive, from theinterface module, the downlink service data corresponding to the firstgroup of radio access technology and send uplink service datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology supported bythe first REC to the interface module; and receive the downlink servicedata corresponding to the second group of radio access technology fromthe interface module and send uplink service data corresponding to thesecond group of radio access technology, which belongs to the secondREC, to the interface module.

The interface module sends, through a first port, the uplink servicedata, that is of the first REC supporting the first group of radioaccess technology and is from the signal processing module, to the firstREC, and sends, through a second port, the uplink service data that isof the second REC supporting the second group of radio access technologyand is from the signal processing module, to the second REC.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides anREC, including an interface module and a signal processing module.

The interface module is configured to receive service data that is sentby a peer REC and passes through a radio equipment (RE), and obtain,from the received service data, uplink service data corresponding toradio access technology) supported by the REC, wherein duringtransmission, the service data is added with the uplink service datathat is corresponding to the radio access technology supported by theREC and is sent by the RE to the REC.

The signal processing module is configured to receive the uplink servicedata corresponding to the radio access technology supported by the REC.

According to embodiments of the present invention, when a base stationsupports multiple radio access technologies, an RE determines the radioaccess technologies supported by its two ports, and transmits datacorresponding to the radio access technologies through the two ports. Inthis way, the RE can transmit service data normally when the basestation supports multiple radio access technologies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a connection schematic diagram of a CPRI link in a distributedbase station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a connection schematic diagram of a CPRI link in a macro basestation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a connection schematic diagram of a base station in abidirectional link mode according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a connection schematic diagram of a base station in adual-star link mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method for an RE to determine the radioaccess technologies supported by its ports according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of another method for an RE to determine theradio access technologies supported by its ports according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of another method for an RE to determine theradio access technologies supported by its ports according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of another method for an RE to determine theradio access technologies supported by its ports according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a method for an REC to judge a link mode ofthe CPRI according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of another method for an REC to judge a link modeof the CPRI according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the service data transmission in abidirectional link mode according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of the service data transmission in adual-star link mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of the control data transmission in abidirectional link mode according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the control data transmission in adual-star link mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an RE according to anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of an REC according to anembodiment of the present invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention may apply to a multi-mode basestation supporting different radio access technologies, such as, themulti-mode base station that may support any combination of globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS), code division multiple access (CDMA),worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WIMAX), and long termevolution (LTE), for example, a multi-mode base station supporting theGSM and UMTS, a multi-mode base station supporting the UMTS and CDMA, ora multi-mode base station supporting the UMTS and LET. The embodimentsof the present invention may apply to a base station supporting multiple(two or more) radio access technologies. Each REC in the base stationmay support a group of radio access technology, and each group of radioaccess technology may include one or more radio access technologies.

For a convenient expression, the following embodiments of the presentinvention use the multi-mode base station supporting two radio accesstechnologies, namely, GSM and UMTS, and one group only includes oneradio access technology (GSM or UMTS) as an example for illustration.However, it should be noted that the embodiments of the presentinvention are not limited to the scenario that a group of radio accesstechnology only includes one radio access technology. The technicalsolutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention may applyto a CPRI link, or may apply to an open base station architectureinitiative (OBSAI) link, or may meet Ir interface technical requirementsof a distributed base station. The CPRI link is used as an example belowto describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the presentinvention.

A base station may be divided into two parts: a base band unit (BBU) anda radio frequency (RF) module. The BBU includes an REC and the RF moduleincludes an RE. It should be noted that the technical solutions providedin embodiments of the present invention not only apply to a distributedbase station (as shown in FIG. 1) but also apply to a macro basestation, whose structure may be shown in FIG. 2. But the macro basestation is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. 2, the forms ofstructures may be also used, which do not affect the implementation ofthe present invention. The technical solutions provided in embodimentsof the present invention can be referred to, as long as in a basestation the BBU and RF module are connected through the CPRI link. Inaddition, the BBU in embodiments of the present invention may have manyhardware structures, and not limited to the structure of being formedwith multiple slot boards. Other structure may also be used, forexample, one board in the BBU. In this case, the multi-mode base stationis implemented through multiple BBUs in a module stacking manner.

To enable the RE to connect to two RECs supporting different radioaccess technologies, embodiments of the present invention provide twolink modes: a bidirectional link mode and a dual-star link mode. Thebidirectional link mode supports a serial connection of the RE. One CPRIlink has one or more REs, and the connection mode is shown in FIG. 3. Ina dual-star link mode, one CPRI link has only one RE. The RE directlyconnects to two RECs supporting different radio access technologies, andthe connection is shown in FIG. 4.

Because the RE has two ports, in this embodiment, the RE needs todetermine the radio access technologies supported respectively by thetwo ports. FIG. 5 shows a method for the RE to determine the radioaccess technologies respectively supported by the two ports, by usingthe CPRI link as an example. The method includes:

Step 501: An RE receives Layer 1 information sent from an REC, where theL1 information includes a slot ID of the REC.

Step 502: The RE receives an HDLC link setup message sent from the REC,where the HDLC link setup message carries a slot ID of the REC andindication information about the radio access technology supported bythe REC.

Step 503: The RE determines that a port receiving the L1 informationsupports the radio access technology supported by the REC, according tothe slot IDs of the REC in the L1 information and in the HDLC link setupmessage being the same.

Step 504: The RE receives and sends, through the port, service datacorresponding to the radio access technology.

Referring to FIG. 6, a method for a RE to determine radio accesstechnologies supported by the RE's two ports is described as follows.The method includes:

Step 601: A second REC sends Layer 1 information, i.e., L1 information,over a CPRI link to a first REC (REC 1). The first REC receives the L1information. The L1 information includes a slot ID of a second REC and atopology scan number (hop number). The L1 information may also include aport ID.

Specifically, the first REC and the second REC may periodically transmitthe L1 information over the CPRI link. It is assumed that the first RECsupports GMS and the second REC supports UMTS. The L1 information inthis embodiment includes: slot ID, hop number, and port ID. In abidirectional link mode, as shown in FIG. 3, the first REC sends itsslot ID=6, port ID=m, and hop number=0 over the CPRI link, and each REon the CPRI link sends the hop number after adding 1 to the hop number.It is assumed that there are three REs on the CPRI link, the second RECreceives hop number=3. In this manner, it can be learned that there arethree REs on the CPRI link. Similarly, the second REC sends its slotID=3, port ID=n, and hop number=0 over the CPRI link, each RE on theCPRI link sends the hop number after adding 1 to the hop number, and thefirst REC receives hop number=3. In this manner, it can be learned thatthere are three REs on the CPRI link. The RE may record the hop numberfor GSM and UMTS. For example, the first RE records hop number=0 for GSMand hop number=2 for UMTS.

In the dual-star link mode, as shown in FIG. 4, the first REC sends itsslot ID=6, ports ID=m, and hop number=0 over the CPRI link. Only one REis on the CPRI link. The RE sends the hop number after adding 1 to thehop number. In this manner, the second REC receives hop number=1.Similarly, the first REC receives the port ID, slot ID, and hop numberof the second REC, where the hop number=1. The RE may record the hopnumber for GSM and may record the hop number for UMTS. For example, thefirst RE records hop number=0 for GSM mode and hop number=0 for UMTS.

Step 602: The first REC judges a link mode of the CPRI link by using,for example, a high-level software module. If the CPRI link is in aunidirectional link mode, related processing is performed for theunidirectional link mode according to the process in the currentsolution, which is not detailed description here; if the CPRI link is ina bidirectional link mode or dual-star link mode, step 603 is performed.

An REC includes a software module, where the software module furtherincludes a low-level software module and a high-level software module.

In step 602, the method for the high-level software module of the firstREC to judge the CPRI link mode can be referred to FIG. 9 and thecorresponding embodiment.

Step 603: An interface module of the first REC sends L1 information tothe RE. The L1 information includes link mode indication information,slot ID and Hop number of the first REC. Further, the L1 information mayinclude a port ID of the first REC.

The interface module in this embodiment and the following embodimentsmay be field programmable gate array (FPGA), but is not limited to theFPGA. Other interface modules may be used, for example, applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC).

The link mode indication information in the L1 information in this stepis used to indicate that the link mode is a bidirectional link mode, adual-star link mode, or a unidirectional link mode.

In this step, the L1 information may be shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 BYTE Index Function Content Comment Z.208.0 M or S BIT3-BIT1:BIT3-BIT1: indicates the attribute indicates the link link mode mode.b′000: indicates the Bit0: indicates that unidirectional link mode. theattribute of the b′001: indicates the port is master or bidirectionallink mode. slave. b′010: indicates the dual-star link mode. Bit0: 1indicates that the attribute of the port is master. Bit0: 0 indicatesthat the attribute of the port is slave.

If BIT3-BIT1=b′000, where b′ indicates a binary bit, it indicates that aunidirectional link mode is used. In this link mode, the processing sameas the prior art may be used, which is not repeatedly described here.

If BIT3-BIT1=b′001, it indicates that a bidirectional link mode is used.In this link mode, for any RE, configuration of attributes of two portsof the RE does not affect the receiving and sending data for the RE. Theattributes of the two ports may be master or slave. A hop scan isimplemented from two RECs on the bidirectional link to the peer RECs.

If BIT3-BIT1=b′010, it indicates that a dual-star link mode is used. Inthis link mode, configuration of attributes of two ports of the RE doesnot affect the receiving and sending data for the RE. The attributes ofthe two ports may be master or slave. A hop scan is implemented from twoRECs on the dual-star link to peer RECs.

In this step, those skilled in the art should understand that thespecific values of the preceding BIT3-BIT1 indicate that thecorresponding link modes are used for illustration only. The presentinvention is not limited to the link modes indicated by the precedingvalues.

Step 604: The RE receives the L1 information through the first port, anddetermines the link mode according to the link mode indicationinformation in the L1 information. For example, the interface module ofthe RE determines the link mode according to the link mode indicationinformation.

An RE includes an interface module. After a port, for example, the firstport, receives the L1 information, the interface module may determinethe link mode according to the link mode indication information in theL1 information. In addition, the RE may further include a softwaremodule, where the software module further includes a low-level softwaremodule and a high-level software module.

In this step, the interface module determines the link mode so that,according to different link modes, different modes are used to sendservice data or control data after related configuration is completed.For example, in the bidirectional link mode or dual-star link mode, themapping relationship between the RE's ports and carriers AxC and theservice data needs to be configured, and then the service data is sentthrough the RE's ports. In the unidirectional link mode, relatedprocessing is performed for the unidirectional link mode according tothe process in the current solution, which is not detailed here.

Step 605: The RE receives an HDLC link setup message sent by the firstREC, for example, the HDLC module in the software module of the REreceives the HDLC link setup message sent by the first REC. The HDLClink setup message includes the slot ID of the first REC, indicationinformation about a first group of radio access technology, hop numbercorresponding to the first group of radio access technology supported bythe RE, and HDLC address allocated by the first REC to the RE. The HDLCmodule in the software module of the RE obtains, according to thereceived hop number corresponding to the first group of radio accesstechnology, and saves the HDLC address allocated by the first REC to theRE.

The HDLC link setup message may further include the port ID of the firstREC. The first group of radio access technology is radio accesstechnology supported by the first REC.

The DHLC link setup message sent by the first REC may carry the hopnumber corresponding to the first group of radio access technologysupported by each RE and the HDLC address corresponding to each RE onthe link; or the first REC sends multiple DHLC link setup messages,where each message includes the slot ID of the first REC, indicationinformation about the first group of radio access technology, hop numbercorresponding to the first group of radio access technology supported bythe RE, and HDLC address of the RE.

Specifically, the HDLC link setup message is an HDLC frame whosecontents are described in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Field content Description HDLC address 0xFF Address forreceiving the HDLC frame, here it indicates broadcast address Controltype XID XID control frame type Slot ID of REC Integer type Slot ID ofREC Port ID of REC Integer type CPRI Port ID of REC RE hop numberInteger type RE hop number RE HLDC Integer type HDLC address allocatedby the REC address to the RE Radio access Bitmap type Indicationinformation about the radio technology of access technologies supportedby the RE. REC Bit with value 1 indicates that the cor- responding radioaccess technology is supported, and bit with value 0 indicates that thecorresponding radio access technology is not supported. B7: WCDMA B6:GSM B5: CDMA B4: WIMAX B3: LTE B2: UMB B1-B0: Reserved If the RECsupports multiple radio access technologies, the corresponding bits areall set to 1.

Step 606: After the RE sets up an HDLC link, the high-level softwaremodule of the RE reads from the interface module the link modeindication information and slot ID of the first REC in the L1information through the low-level software module, and receivesindication information about the first port in the L1 information. Inthis embodiment and the following embodiments of the present invention,the indication information about the first port may be port ID of thefirst port, and is used for identifying the first port.

Step 607: The high-level software module of the RE judges the CPRI linkmode according to the link mode indication information. If the CPRI linkis in a unidirectional link mode, related processing is performed forthe unidirectional link mode according to the current process; if theCPRI link is in a bidirectional link mode or dual-star link mode, step608 is performed. In step 607, it is judged that the link mode is thebidirectional link mode or dual-star link mode.

Step 608: The high-level software of the RE reads, through the HDLCmodule, from the HDLC link setup message, the slot ID of the first RECand indication information about the first group of radio accesstechnology and determines, according to the slot ID of the first REC,that the RE's port (the first port) receiving the L1 informationsupports the first group of radio access technology. Referring to Table3, in this step, the method for determining that the RE's port (thefirst port) receiving the L1 information supports the first group ofradio access technology is: if the REC's slot ID in the L1 informationis the same as the REC's slot ID in L2 link setup message (referred toas HDLC link setup message here), it is determined that the RE's port(the first port) receiving the L1 information supports the first groupof radio access technology in the HDLC link setup message.

TABLE 3 The corresponding relationship between the port IDs of the REsand the radio L1 information L2 link setup message access technologiesSlot ID of the Slot ID of the Port ID of the REC <—> REC <—> the REC <—>radio radio access technology port ID of the RE access technologyinformation information

Step 609: The software module of the RE configures the radio accesstechnology supported by the RE's first port for the interface module.For example, the interface module may be FPGA; in this case, thesoftware module of the RE configures the radio access technologysupported by the RE's first port for FPGA.

Step 610: The first REC sends, through a high-level message, to the RE,service area information occupied by the carriers of the group of radioaccess technology, or AxC (antenna-carrier) information about thecarriers supporting the group of radio access technology.

The first REC may transmit data corresponding to the group of radioaccess technology by service area, or by using the AxC to carry the datacorresponding to the group of radio access technology in the servicearea.

Step 611: The software module of the RE, for example, FPGA, configures,for the interface module, a mapping relationship between the servicearea information and a port ID of the first port of the RE, or themapping relationship between the AxC information and the port ID of thefirst port of the RE. That is, the software module of the RE specifiesthat the RE receives and sends, through the first port, the service datacorresponding to the radio access technologies supported by the firstREC.

Step 612: The RE receives and sends, through the first port, the servicedata corresponding to the group of radio access technology supported bythe first REC.

According to the method provided in the preceding embodiment, it may befurther determined that the service data corresponding to the secondgroup of radio access technology supported by the second REC is receivedand sent by the RE through the second port of the RE.

Optionally, an embodiment of the present invention provides anothermethod for an RE to determine radio access technologies supported by itstwo ports. This method differs from the preceding one in that the RE candetermine, according to L1 information, the radio access technologiessupported by the ports. This method includes:

Step 701: An RE receives L1 information sent by an REC, where the L1information includes a slot ID of the REC and indication informationabout radio access technology supported by the REC.

Step 702: It is determined that a port receiving the L1 informationsupports the radio access technology supported by the REC.

Step 703: The RE receives and sends, through the port, correspondingservice data corresponding to the radio access technology.

Referring to FIG. 8, another method for an RE to determine radio accesstechnologies supported respectively by its two ports is described asfollows. The method includes:

Step 801: A second REC sends Layer 1 information, i.e., L1 information,over a CPRI link to a first REC. The first REC receives the L1information. The L1 information includes a slot ID and a hop number ofthe second REC. The L1 information may also include a port ID.

Step 802: A high-level software module of the first REC judges link modeof the CPRI link. If the CPRI link is in a unidirectional link mode,related processing is performed for the unidirectional link modeaccording to the current process; if the CPRI link is in a bidirectionallink mode or dual-star link mode, step 803 is performed.

An REC includes a software module, where the software module furtherincludes a low-level software module and a high-level software module.

In this step, the method for the high-level software module of the firstREC determining the CPRI link mode can be referred to FIG. 9 and FIG.10.

Step 803: An interface module of the first REC sends L1 information tothe RE. The L1 information includes: link mode indication information, aslot ID of the first REC and a hop number of the first REC, andindication information about a first group of radio access technology.Further, the L1 information may include the port ID of the first REC.The contents of the L1 information are detailed in Table 4.

TABLE 4 BYTE Index Function Content Comment Z.208.0 M or S BIT3-BIT1:BIT3-BIT1: indicates the attribute indicates the link link mode. mode.b′000: indicates the Bit0: indicates that unidirectional link mode. theattribute of the b′001: indicates the port is master or bidirectionallink mode. slave. b′010: indicates the dual-star link mode. Bit0: 1indicates that the attribute of the port is master. Bit0: 0 indicatesthat the attribute of the port is slave. Z.208.1 Standard BIT7-BIT0:Indication information indicates the radio about the radio access accesstechnology technologies supported by information. the REC. Bit withvalue 1 indicates that the radio access technologies are supported, andbit with value 0 indicates that the radio access technologies are notsupported. B7: WCDMA B6: GSM B5: CDMA B4: WIMAX B3: LTE B2: UMB B1-B0:Reserved If the REC supports multiple radio access technologies, thecorresponding bits are all set to 1.

Steps 804-805 are basically the same with steps 604-605.

Step 806: After the RE sets up an HDLC link, the high-level softwaremodule of the RE reads, through the low-level software module, from theinterface module, the link mode indication information, slot ID of thefirst REC, indication information about the first group of radio accesstechnology comprised in the L1 information, and a port number of thefirst port receiving the L1 information.

An RE includes an interface module and a software module, where thesoftware module further includes a low-level software module and ahigh-level software module.

Step 807: The high-level software module of the RE judges the link modeof the CPRI link according to the link mode indication information. Ifthe CPRI link is in a unidirectional link mode, related processing isperformed for the unidirectional link mode according to the currentprocess; if the CPRI link is in a bidirectional link mode or dual-starlink mode, step 808 is performed. In step 807, it is judged that thelink mode is the bidirectional link mode or dual-star link mode.

Step 808: The high-level software module of the RE determines that thefirst port receiving the L1 information supports the first group ofradio access technology supported by the first REC.

Steps 809-812 are basically the same with steps 709-712.

It should be noted that the RE forwards the received slot ID (or, slotID and port ID) of the REC between the two ports, that is, sends out,from the other port, the slot ID (or, the slot ID and port ID) of theREC after receiving the slot ID from one port. The processing is thesame for each RE in the link. In the CPRI link, the slot ID (or, slot IDand port ID) of the REC at one end of the link is sent to the REC at theother end of the ring, and the REC at one end receives the slot ID (or,slot ID and port ID) of the REC at the other end. If the CPRI link isdisconnected, the last RE on the link returns the received slot ID (or,slot ID and port ID). In this manner, the REC may receive the slot ID(or, slot ID and port ID) sent by the REC itself to learn that the linkis disconnected.

According to the method provided in the preceding embodiment, it may befurther determined that the service data corresponding to the secondgroup of radio access technology supported by the second REC is receivedand sent through the second port of the RE.

Referring to FIG. 9, a method for a high-level software module of an RECto judge the CPRI link mode is described as follows:

Step 901: A high-level software module of an REC obtains a slot ID andhop number received from a CPRI link.

Step 902: The high-level software module judges, according to thereceived slot ID, whether the peer REC supports the same group of radioaccess technology. If the peer REC does not support the same group ofradio access technology, it is regarded that the CPRI link is in abidirectional link mode or dual-star link mode, and step 903 isperformed; otherwise, the CPRI link is in a unidirectional link mode andthe process ends.

Step 903: The high-level software module judges, according to the hopnumber, the number of REs on the CPRI link. If the CPRI link has onlyone RE, the CPRI link is in the dual-star link mode; if the CPRI linkhas multiple REs, the CPRI link is in the bidirectional link mode.

Referring to FIG. 10, another method for a high-level software module ofan REC to judge the CPRI link mode is described as follows:

Step 1001: A high-level software module of an REC obtains radio accesstechnology indication information and hop number that are received froma CPRI link.

In the CPRI link mode provided in this embodiment of the presentinvention, the REC receives the indication information about the radioaccess technologies supported by a peer REC.

Step 1002: The high-level software module judges whether the radioaccess technology indicated in the indication information received fromthe CPRI link is supported by the REC. If the radio access technology isnot supported by the REC, the CPRI link is in a bidirectional link modeor dual-star link mode and step 1003 is performed; otherwise, the CPRIlink is in a unidirectional mode and the process ends.

Step 1003: The high-level software module judges the number of REs onthe CPRI link according to the hop number. If the CPRI link has only oneRE, the CPRI link is in the dual-star link mode; if the CPRI link hasmultiple REs, the CPRI link is in the bidirectional link mode.

It should be noted that the bidirectional link mode shown in FIG. 9 andFIG. 10 is also applicable to the scenario where the CPRI link has onlyone RE. In this case, it is only required that two RECs preset whetherthe bidirectional link mode or dual-star link mode is to be used whenthere is only one RE on the CPRI link. The dual-star link mode isgenerally used, when there is only one RE on the CPRI link.

Considering frequent occurrence of transient disconnections on the CPRIlink, a certain delay for the REC switching the mode of the link may beneeded, and the delay can be preset to, for example, 3 minutes, that is,if it is detected that the CPRI link mode is changed from one mode toanother mode and stays in this mode for 3 minutes, the CPRI linkswitches to still another mode.

Or, when a multi-mode base station is configured, the link mode(unidirectional link mode, bidirectional link mode, or dual-star linkmode) is configured for the CPRI link. The high-level software module ofthe REC uses the methods described above to detect the actual CPRI linkmode, and compares the detection result with the configured link mode.If the detection result is inconsistent with the configured link mode,an alarm indicating that the link mode is abnormal is reported to notifythe inconsistency.

Referring to FIG. 11, the process of service data transmission in abidirectional link mode is described as follows:

An RE receives service data corresponding to groups of radio accesstechnologies from RE's two ports, and respectively sends the receiveddata to a corresponding signal processing module. The signal processingmodule in this embodiment of the present invention may be a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), or other types of signal processing devices, which do not affectthe implementation of the present invention. The high-level softwaremodule configures, for an interface module, information about AxC orservice area, where the AxC or service area is occupied by a carriercorresponding to each group of RATs supported by the RE. Therefore, theinterface module may differentiate the service data corresponding todifferent groups of radio access technologies.

During service data transmission, the interface module sends the servicedata, which needs to be sent, to the RE's ports supporting thecorresponding group of radio access technology, according to the groupof radio access technology to which the service data that needs to besent belongs.

In this embodiment, a first REC (assume that the first REC supports afirst group of radio access technology, including GMS) sends downlinkservice data to the RE. The interface module of any RE on a CPRI linkobtains, according to the AxC information or service area information,the service data of the RE from the first REC's downlink service datareceived by a port (a first port) supporting the first group of radioaccess technology, and sends the obtained service data to the RE'ssignal processing module corresponding to the first group of radioaccess technology. The interface module obtains uplink service datawhich needs to be sent to a second REC (assume that the second RECsupports a second group of radio access technology, including UMTS mode)from RE's signal processing module corresponding to the second group ofradio access technology, combines the obtained uplink service data withthe downlink service data of the first REC, and transmits the combinedservice data to a next RE. If the node next to the RE is the second REC,the combined service data is directly transmitted to the second REC.

Specifically, on one direction of the CPRI link, a local REC (assume itis the first REC) first carries the downlink service data correspondingto a group of radio access technology, then each RE on the link obtainsits downlink service data and adds the uplink service data correspondingto another group of radio access technology into the downlink servicedata corresponding to a group of radio access technology. Finally, theinformation that is carried on the CPRI link and sent to the REC at theother end of the link (the second REC) may include: the uplink servicedata corresponding to the radio access technologies supported by thesecond REC, and the downlink service data corresponding to the radioaccess technologies supported by the first REC. The second REC obtainsthe uplink service data corresponding to the radio access technologysupported by the second REC, and discards the downlink service data thatis corresponding to the radio access technologies supported by the peerREC.

The signal processing module corresponding to the first group of radioaccess technology and the signal processing module corresponding to thesecond group of radio access technology may be integrated into onesignal processing module, which does not affect the implementation ofthe present invention.

The method that REC obtains uplink service data corresponding to theradio access technologies supported by the REC itself may be that: theinterface module of the REC obtains its service data according to thepreconfigured AxC or service area information.

An analysis on service bandwidth for transmitting service data in thebidirectional link mode according to this embodiment of the presentinvention is made, and it can be seen from the flowing equations that inthe bidirectional link mode situation, in one direction, the downlinkservice data corresponding to one REC and the uplink service datacorresponding to another REC share the service bandwidth on a CPRI link.

Assume that the first group of radio access technology supported by thefirst REC include only GSM mode, and the second group of radio accesstechnology supported by the second REC include only UMTS mode:

Bandwidth occupied by services from GSM to UMTS=bandwidth occupied byGSM downlink service data+bandwidth occupied by UMTS uplink servicedata.

Bandwidth occupied by services from UMTS to GSM=bandwidth occupied bythe UMTS downlink service data+bandwidth occupied by GSM uplink servicedata.

It can be seen that in the bidirectional link mode, the bandwidthconsumed in two groups of radio access technologies supportedrespectively by two RECs does not increase, and the service datacorresponding to the two groups of radio access technologies shares theservice bandwidth on the CPRI link.

Referring to FIG. 12, the transmission process of the service data in adual-star link mode is described as follows:

A RE receives service data corresponding to a group of radio accesstechnology from its one port and sends the received service data to asignal processing module corresponding to the group of radio accesstechnology; and receives service data corresponding to another group ofradio access technology from another port and sends the data to anothersignal processing module corresponding to the another group of radioaccess technology. A high-level software module configures AxC orservice area information for an interface module, where the AxC orservice area is occupied by a carrier corresponding to each group ofradio access technology supported by the RE. Therefore, the interfacemodule may differentiate the service data corresponding to differentgroups of radio access technologies.

During service data transmission, the interface module sends the servicedata, which needs to be sent, to the RE's ports supporting thecorresponding group of radio access technology according to the group ofradio access technology to which the service data that needs to be sentbelongs to.

A first REC (assume that the first REC supports a first group of radioaccess technology, including the GMS mode) sends downlink service datato the RE. The interface module of the RE receives the downlink servicedata from a port (assuming a first port) supporting a first group ofradio access technology and sends the received downlink service data tothe signal processing module corresponding to the first group of radioaccess technology. The RE obtains uplink service data from the signalprocessing module corresponding to the first group of radio accesstechnology and sends the obtained uplink service data through the firstport to the first REC. Similarly, a second REC (assume that the secondREC supports a second group of radio access technology, including theUMTS mode) sends downlink service data to the RE. The interface moduleof the RE receives the downlink service data from the port (the secondport) supporting the second group of radio access technology and sendsthe received downlink service data to the signal processing modulecorresponding to the second group of radio access technology. The REobtains uplink service data from the signal processing module and sendsthe obtained uplink service data through the second port to the secondREC.

The signal processing module corresponding to the first group of radioaccess technology and the signal processing module corresponding to thesecond group of radio access technology may be integrated into onesignal processing module, which does not affect the implementation ofthe present invention.

It can be seen from the preceding description that, as RE concatenationis not supported in the dual-star link mode, the sending of the servicedata from the REC to the RE ends at the RE and thus the data does notneed to be forwarded by the RE from another port. The service data to besent from the RE to the REC is needed to be differentiated and sentthrough the port supporting the corresponding group of radio accesstechnology. The service data corresponding to a group of radio accesstechnology may be sent only through the port supporting the group ofradio access technology. It can be seen from FIG. 12 that, in thismanner, the service data corresponding to a group of radio accesstechnology may exclusively occupy the service bandwidth on one CPRIlink.

Referring to FIG. 13, the process of control data transmission in abidirectional link mode is described as follows:

When an RE receives the control data, an interface module of the REfirst buffers the control data received from RE's two ports and thenqueues the control data received by the two ports. Because the controldata carries an HDLC address, two HDLC software modules may be set inthe RE: one HDLC software module corresponding to a first REC, and theother HDLC software module corresponding to a second REC. The two HDLCsoftware modules obtain, according to their respective HDLC addresses(for example, the HDLC address that is corresponding to the radio accesstechnologies and is recorded by the RE described in step 605), theircontrol data from the queue and forward the obtained control data to thehigh-level software module.

When the RE sends the control data, the interface module combines thecontrol data (the control data carries the HDLC addresses allocatedrespectively by the first REC and the second REC to the RE) from twoHDLC software modules and duplicates the combined control data, and thensends the duplicated control data through the first port and the secondport respectively.

Specifically, when the RE receives the control data, the RE receives thecontrol data through the first and second ports, and queues the receivedcontrol data. The two HDLC software modules of the RE obtain, accordingto the HDLC addresses in the control data in the queue, their controldata from the queue, and forward the obtained control data to thehigh-level software module.

When the RE sends the control data, the interface module combines thecontrol data (the uplink control data needs to be sent to the first RECand the uplink control data needs to be sent to the second REC) from twoHDLC software modules and duplicates the combined control data, thencombines one duplicate with control data received through the first portand sends the combined data through the second port, and combines theother duplicate with control data received from the second port andsends the combined data through the first port. The uplink control datato be sent to the first REC carries the HDLC address allocated by thefirst REC and the control data to be sent to the second REC carries theHDLC address allocated by the second REC.

After the REC receives the control data, the HDLC software module of theREC obtains, according to the HDLC addresses in the control data, itscontrol data from the received control data, and forwards the data tothe high-level software module.

In this manner, the HDLC uplink and downlink data shares the bandwidthof the control plane (for example, a bandwidth of 3.84 Mbit/s).

Or, when the RE sends the control data, the interface moduledifferentiates the control data from the first HDLC software module fromthe control data from the second HDLC software module, combines thecontrol data of the first REC (control data from the first HDLC softwaremodule) with the control data received from the second port (controldata from the second HDLC software module) and then sends the combineddata from the first port; and combines the control data of the secondREC with the control data received from the first port and sends thecombined data from the second port.

Referring to FIG. 14, the process of control data transmission in adual-star link mode is described as follows:

In the dual-star link mode, an RE does not need to forward downlinkcontrol data. When the RE receives the control data, an interface modulebuffers the control data received from two ports and queues the receivedcontrol data. Two HDLC software modules of the RE obtain theirrespective control data from the queue according to their HDLC addresses(for example, the HDLC address that is corresponding to the radio accesstechnologies and is recorded by the RE in step 605), and forwards thecontrol data to the high-level software.

When the RE sends the control data, the interface module duplicates thecontrol data (the control data carries the HDLC address allocated by anREC) from the two HDLC software modules, and sends the control dataduplicates from the two ports respectively.

Specifically, when the RE receives the control data, the RE receivescontrol data through the first and second ports and queues the receivedcontrol data; the two HDLC software modules of the RE obtains theircontrol data according to their HDLC addresses in the control data fromthe queue, and forwards the control data to the high-level softwaremodule.

When the RE sends the control data, a FPGA combines the control data(uplink control data to be sent to the first REC and uplink control datato be sent to the second REC) from the two HDLC software modules,duplicates the control data, and sends one duplicate through the firstport and the other duplicate through the second port. The uplink controldata to be sent to the first REC carries the HDLC address allocated bythe first REC and the uplink control data to be sent to the second RECcarries the HDLC address allocated by the second REC.

After the REC receives the control data, the HDLC software module of theREC obtains, according to the HDLC addresses in the control data, itscontrol data from the received radio access technologies, and forwardsthe obtained control data to the high-level software module.

Or, when the RE sends the control data, the interface moduledifferentiates the control data from the first HDLC software module fromthe control data from the second HDLC software module, sends the controldata of the first REC (control data from the first HDLC software module)from the first port, and sends the control data of the second REC(control data from the second HDLC software module) from the secondport.

It should be noted that the number of the CPRI port of the REC in thepreceding FIGS. 11, 12, 13, and 14 is not limited to one, two or moreports may be available, which does not affect the implementation of theembodiments of the present invention.

The bidirectional link mode and dual-star link mode provided in aboveembodiments of the present invention is applicable to the case that RECsare arranged at two ends of the link. However, when the CPRI port at oneside of the RE on the CPRI link is disconnected, if the link mode that anormal CPRI port receives is the dual-star link mode, the REcommunicates with the corresponding REC through the normal port; if thelink mode that the normal CPRI port receives is the bidirectional linkmode, CPRI data receiving and sending is terminated at the disconnectedport because the RE whose CPRI port is disconnected is actually the lastnode on the link. The data is received and sent at the normal CPRI portaccording to the bidirectional link mode.

Specifically, the RE receives control words such as a port ID and a slotID from the normal port and does not forward these control words. Duringdownlink service data receiving, the interface module, for example,FPGA, of the RE obtains its service data from the downlink service datareceived from the normal port, and sends the obtained service data tothe high-level software. The downlink service data is no longerforwarded. During the uplink service data transmission, the hop numberis initialized to be 1, and the uplink service data that needs to besent is sent from the normal port.

Referring to FIG. 11, it is assumed that a second port of a second RE inFIG. 11 is disconnected. In one direction, a first REC sends downlinkservice data on a CPRI link; the first RE receives the downlink servicedata through a first port, obtains service data that the first RE needs,sends the service data to a high-level software module, combines uplinkservice data that needs to be sent to a second REC with the downlinkservice data, and sends the combined data through the second port. Asecond RE receives the service data through the first port, obtainsdownlink service data that the second RE needs, and sends the servicedata to the high-level software module. Because the second port isdisconnected, the second RE no longer continues to forward data throughthe second port. In another direction, the second RE sends the uplinkservice data that needs to be sent to the first REC from the first port;after receiving through the second port the service data sent by thesecond RE through the first port, the first RE combines the uplinkservice data that needs to be sent to the first REC with the receivedservice data, and sends the combined data from the first port.

If the two ports of the RE are both disconnected, an abnormalityprocessing is carried out and the ports automatically recover after aperiod of time.

If one port of the RE is disconnected and the link mode indicationinformation received by the remaining port which is normal is in aunidirectional link mode, the CPRI link of the RE is switched to theunidirectional link mode. In this case, the processing is the same asthat in the prior art, which is not detailed here.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a base stationdevice. The base station device is applicable to a bidirectional linkmode. The base station device supports multiple radio accesstechnologies and includes: an RE, a first REC supporting a first groupof radio access technology, and a second REC supporting a second groupof radio access technology.

The first REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to thefirst group of radio access technology to the RE.

The RE is configured to receive, through a first port, the downlink datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology supported bythe first REC, obtain its data from the received downlink datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology, and combineuplink data corresponding to a second group of radio access technologywith the received downlink data corresponding to the first group ofradio access technology and then sends out the combined data through asecond port.

The second REC is configured to receive the data sent by the RE throughthe second port, and obtain the uplink data corresponding to the secondgroup of radio access technology from the received data.

In order to determine a link mode and send the indication informationabout link mode to the RE, the first REC is further configured todetermine, according to a slot ID received from the link, that the groupof radio access technology supported by the first REC and the group ofradio access technology supported by the second REC are different,determine that the link mode is a bidirectional link mode according tothe hop number received from the link, and send L1 information to theRE, where the L1 information includes information indicating thebidirectional link mode; or, the first REC is further configured todetermine, according to radio access technology information receivedfrom a link, that the group of radio access technology supported by thesecond REC and the group of radio access technology supported by thefirst REC are different, determine that the link mode is a bidirectionallink mode according to the hop number received from the link, and sendL1 information to the RE, where the L1 information includes informationindicating the bidirectional link mode.

Optionally, the first REC is further configured to report, when thedetermined link mode is different from a preconfigured link mode, analarm indicating that the link mode is abnormal.

To facilitate the RE to better determine the radio access technologiessupported by the ports, the first REC is further configured to send L1information that includes the slot ID of the first REC, and broadcast aHDLC link setup message which includes the slot ID of the first REC andindication information about the first group of radio access technology.The second REC is further configured to send L1 information thatincludes the slot ID of the second REC, and broadcast a HDLC link setupmessage, where the HDLC link setup message includes the slot ID of thesecond REC and indication information about the second group of radioaccess technology. The RE is further configured to receive the L1information sent by the first REC and the HDLC link setup messagebroadcast by the first REC, and determine, according to the slot ID ofthe first REC, that a first port receiving the L information sent by thefirst REC supports the first group of radio access technology; receivethe L1 information sent by the second REC and the HDLC link setupmessage broadcast by the second REC, and determine, according to theslot ID of the second REC, that a second port receiving the L1information sent by the second REC supports the second group of radioaccess technology.

Or, to facilitate the RE to better determine the radio accesstechnologies supported by the ports, the first REC is further configuredto send L1 information, where the L1 information includes the slot ID ofthe first REC and information about the first group of radio accesstechnology. The second REC is further configured to send the L1information, where the L1 information includes the slot ID of the secondREC and information about the second group of radio access technology.The RE is configured to receive the L1 information sent by the first RECand determine that the first port receiving the L1 information sent bythe first REC supports the first group of radio access technology;receive the L1 information sent by the second REC and determine that thesecond port receiving the L1 information sent by the second REC supportsthe second group of radio access technology.

It is easy to understand that the preceding section describes theprocess of data transmission in one direction, that is, the directionfrom the first REC to the second REC; the process of data transmissionin another direction, that is, the direction from the second REC to thefirst REC, is described as follows:

The second REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to thesecond group of radio access technology to the RE.

The RE is configured to receive, through a second port, downlink datacorresponding to the second group of radio access technology supportedby the second REC, obtain its data from the received downlink datacorresponding to the second group of radio access technology, andcombine uplink data corresponding to a first group of radio accesstechnology with the downlink data corresponding to the second group ofradio access technology and send the combined data through a first port.

The first REC is configured to receive the data sent by the RE throughthe first port, and obtain the uplink data corresponding to the firstgroup of radio access technology from the received data.

The CPRI link of the base station provided in the above embodiment ofthe present invention is in a bidirectional link mode. The RE determinesradio access technologies supported respectively by the RE's two ports,and transmits the data, for example, service data or control data,corresponding to the radio access technologies through the two ports toensure that the RE can transmit the service data or control datanormally when the base station supports multiple radio accesstechnologies.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a base stationdevice. The base station device is applicable to a dual-star link mode,which includes an RE, a first REC supporting a first group of radioaccess technology, and a second REC supporting a second group of radioaccess technology.

The first REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to afirst group of radio access technology to the RE and receive uplink datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology from the RE.

The second REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to asecond group of radio access technology to the RE and receive uplinkdata corresponding to the second group of radio access technology fromthe RE.

In order to determine a link mode and send the indication informationabout link mode to the RE, the first REC is further configured todetermine, according to a slot ID received from the link, that the groupof radio access technology supported by the first REC and the group ofradio access technology supported by the second REC are different,determine that the link mode is a bidirectional link mode according tothe hop number received from the link, and send L1 information to theRE, where the L1 information includes information indicating thebidirectional link mode; or, the first REC is further configured todetermine, according to radio access technology information receivedfrom a link, that the group of radio access technology supported by thesecond REC and the group of radio access technology supported by thefirst REC are different, determine that the link mode is a bidirectionallink mode according to the hop number received from the link, and sendL1 information to the RE, where the L1 information includes theinformation indicating the bidirectional link mode.

Optionally, the first REC is further configured to report an alarmindicating that the link mode is abnormal when the determined link modeis different from a preconfigured link mode.

To facilitate the RE to better determine the radio access technologiessupported by the ports, the first REC is further configured to send L1information that includes a slot ID of the first REC, and broadcast aHDLC link setup message, where the HDLC link setup message includes theslot ID of the first REC and indication information about the firstgroup of radio access technology. The second REC is further configuredto send the L1 information that includes the slot ID of the second REC,and broadcast the HDLC link setup message, where the HDLC link setupmessage includes the slot ID of the second REC and indicationinformation about the second group of radio access technology. The RE isfurther configured to receive the L1 information sent by the first RECand the HDLC link setup message broadcast by the first REC, anddetermine, according to the slot ID of the first REC, that a first portreceiving the L1 information sent by the first REC supports the firstgroup of radio access technology; and receive the L1 information sent bythe second REC and the HDLC link setup message broadcast by the secondREC, and determine, according to the slot ID of the second REC, that asecond port receiving the L1 information sent by the second REC supportsthe second group of radio access technology.

Or, to facilitate the RE to better determine the radio accesstechnologies supported RE's ports, the first REC is further configuredto send L1 information, where the L1 information includes the slot ID ofthe first REC and information about the first group of radio accesstechnology. The second REC is further configured to send the L1information, where the L1 information includes the slot ID of the secondREC and information about the second group of radio access technology.The RE is configured to receive the L1 information sent by the first RECand determine that the first port receiving the L1 information sent bythe first REC supports the first group of radio access technology; andreceive the L1 information sent by the second REC and determine that thesecond port receiving the L1 information sent by the second REC supportsthe second group of radio access technology.

The CPRI link of the base station provided in the preceding embodimentof the present invention is in a dual-star link mode. The RE determinesthe radio access technologies supported respectively by the RE's twoports, and transmits the data, for example, service data or controldata, corresponding to the radio access technologies by using the twoports to ensure that the RE can transmit the service data or controldata normally when the base station supports multiple radio accesstechnologies.

Referring to FIG. 15, an embodiment of the present invention provides aradio equipment (RE). The RE includes: an interface module 1501, asignal processing module 1502, and a software module 1503. The softwaremodule 1503 includes a low-level software module 15031, a first HDLCsoftware module 150321, a second HDLC software module 150322, and ahigh-level software module 15033. The RE apples to bidirectional linkmode.

The interface module 1501 is configured to obtain service data of the REfrom downlink service data that is corresponding to a first group ofradio access technology and is sent by a first REC and received by theRE through a first port; and obtain the service data of the RE fromdownlink service data that is corresponding to the second group of radioaccess technology and is sent by a second REC, and is received from theRE through a second port;

The signal processing module 1502 is configured to receive the downlinkservice data corresponding to the first group of radio access technologyfrom the interface module 1501 and send uplink service datacorresponding to the second group of radio access technology supportedby the second REC to the interface module 1501; and receive the downlinkservice data corresponding to the second group of radio accesstechnology from the interface module 1501 and send uplink service datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology supported bythe first REC to the interface module 1501.

The interface module 1501 combines the uplink service data correspondingto the second group of radio access technology from the signalprocessing module 1502 with the downlink service data corresponding tothe first group of radio access technology, and then sends, through thesecond port, the combined data to the second REC; and combines theuplink service data corresponding to the first group of radio accesstechnology from the signal processing module 1502 with the downlinkservice data corresponding to the second group of radio accesstechnology, and then sends the combined data to the first REC from thefirst port.

Specifically, in order to determine radio access technologies supportedby the ports, the interface module 1501 is further configured to receiveLayer 1 information and HDLC link setup message through the first port,where the L1 information includes the slot ID of the first REC, and theHDLC link setup message includes the slot ID of the first REC andindication information about the first group of radio access technology;and receive L1 information and HDLC link setup message from the secondport, where the L1 information includes the slot ID of the second REC,and the HDLC link setup message includes the slot ID of the second RECand indication information about the second group of radio accesstechnology. The high-level software module 15033 is configured to readthe slot ID of the first REC and indication information about the firstport through the low-level software module 15031, read, through a firstHDLC software module 150321, the slot ID of the first REC and theindication information about the first group of radio access technologyin the HDLC link setup message received from the first port, anddetermine, according to the slot ID of the first REC, that the firstport supports the first group of radio access technology; and read,through the low-level software module 15031, the slot ID of the secondREC and indication information about the second port (the indicationinformation about the second port may be a port ID, and is used foridentifying the second port), read, through a second HDLC softwaremodule 150322, the slot ID of the second REC and the indicationinformation about the second group of radio access technology in theHDLC link setup message received from the second port, and determine,according to the slot ID of the second REC, that the second portsupports the second group of radio access technology.

Or, specifically, in order to determine radio access technologiessupported by the ports, the interface module 1501 is further configuredto receive, through the first port, L1 information including indicationinformation about the first group of radio access technology; andreceive, through the second port, L1 information including indicationinformation about the second group of radio access technology. Thehigh-level software module 15033 is configured to read, through thelow-level software module 15031, the indication information about thefirst group of radio access technology and indication information aboutthe first port, and determine that the first port supports the firstgroup of radio access technology; and read, through the low-levelsoftware module 15031, the indication information about the second groupof radio access technology and indication information about the secondport, and determine that the second port supports the second group ofradio access technology.

To send control data, the interface module 1501 is further configured toreceive the control data from the first port and the second port andqueue the received control data; combine the uplink control datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology from thefirst HDLC software module 150321 with uplink control data correspondingto the second group of radio access technology from the second HDCLsoftware module 150322 and duplicate the combined control data; combineone duplicate with the control data received from the first port andsend the combined data through the second port, and combine the otherduplicate with the control data received through the second port andsend the combined data through the first port. The first HDLC softwaremodule 150321 is further configured to obtain the downlink control datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology according tothe HDLC address of the control data in the queue and the saved HDLCaddress allocated by the first REC to the RE. The second HDLC softwaremodule 150322 is configured to obtain the downlink control datacorresponding to the second group of radio access technology accordingto the HDLC address in the control data in the queue and the saved HDLCaddress allocated by the second REC to the RE.

To obtain and save the HDLC address corresponding to the radio accesstechnologies, that is, the HDLC address allocated by different RECs tothe RE, the first HDLC software module 150321 is configured to receivean HDLC link setup message broadcast by the first REC, where the HDLClink setup message includes the hop number corresponding to the firstgroup of radio access technology supported by the RE and an HDLC addressallocated by the first REC to the RE; and obtain, according to the hopnumber corresponding to the first group of radio access technologysupported by the RE, from the HDLC link setup message, the HDLC addressallocated by the first REC to the RE, and save the obtained HDLCaddress. The second HDLC software module 150322 is configured to receivean HDLC link setup message broadcast by the second REC, where the HDLClink setup message broadcast by the second REC includes the hop numbercorresponding to the second group of radio access technology supportedby the RE and an HDLC address allocated by the second REC to the RE; andobtain, according to the hop number of second group of radio accesstechnology supported by the RE, from the HDLC link setup message, theHDLC address allocated by the second REC to the RE and save the obtainedHDLC address.

The CPRI link provided in the preceding embodiment of the presentinvention is in a bidirectional link mode. The RE determines the radioaccess technologies supported respectively by the RE's two ports toensure that the RE can transmit the service data normally and that theRE transmits the control data corresponding to the radio accesstechnologies through the two ports when the base station supportsmultiple radio access technologies.

The interface module 1501 is configured to receive, through a first portfrom a first REC, downlink service data corresponding to a first groupof radio access technology, and send the received service data to asignal processing module 1502; and receive, through a second port, froma second REC, downlink service data corresponding to a second group ofradio access technology and send the data to the signal processingmodule 1502.

The signal processing module 1502 is configured to receive the downlinkservice data corresponding to the first group of radio access technologyfrom the interface module 1501 and send uplink service datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology supported bythe first REC to the interface module 1501; and receive the downlinkservice data corresponding to the second group of radio accesstechnology from the interface module 1501 and send uplink service datacorresponding to the second group of radio access technology supportedby the second REC to the interface module 1501.

The interface module 1501 sends, through a first port, the uplinkservice data of the first REC supporting the first group of radio accesstechnology from the signal processing module to the first REC, andsends, through a second port, the uplink service data of the second RECsupporting the second group of radio access technology from the signalprocessing module to the second REC.

Specifically, in order to determine the radio access technologiessupported by the ports, the interface module 1501 is further configuredto receive, through the first port, L1 information and an HDLC linksetup message, where the L1 information received through the first portincludes the slot ID of the first REC, and the HDLC link setup messagereceived through the first port includes the slot ID of the first RECand indication information about the first group of radio accesstechnology; and receive L1 information and an HDLC link setup messagethrough the second port, where the L1 information received through thesecond port includes the slot ID of the second REC, and the HDLC linksetup message received through the second port includes the slot ID ofthe second REC and indication information about the second group ofradio access technology. The high-level software module 15033 isconfigured to read, through the low-level software module 15031, theslot ID of the first REC and indication information about the firstport, read, through a first HDLC software module 150321, the slot ID ofthe first REC and the indication information about the first group ofradio access technology in the HDLC link setup message received from thefirst port, and determine, according to the slot ID of the first REC,that the first port supports the first group of radio access technology;and read, through the low-level software module 15031, the slot ID ofthe second REC and indication information about the second port, read,through a second HDLC software module 150322, the slot ID of the secondREC and the indication information about the second group of radioaccess technology in the HDLC link setup message received through thesecond port, and determine, according to the slot ID of the second REC,that the second port supports the second group of radio accesstechnology.

Or, in order to determine radio access technologies supported by theports, the interface module 1501 is further configured to receive,through the first port, L1 information including indication informationabout the first group of radio access technology; and receive, throughthe second port, the L1 information including indication informationabout the second group of radio access technology. The high-levelsoftware module 15033 is configured to read, through the low-levelsoftware module 15031, the indication information about the first groupof radio access technology and the indication information about thefirst port, and determine that the first port supports the first groupof radio access technology; and read the indication information aboutthe second group of radio access technology and the indicationinformation about the second port through the low-level software module,and determine that the second port supports the second group of radioaccess technology.

In order to send control data, the interface module 1501 is furtherconfigured to receive the control data through the first and secondports and queue the received control data; and combine uplink controldata corresponding to the first group of radio access technology fromthe first HDLC software module 150321 with uplink control datacorresponding to the second group of radio access technology from thesecond HDLC software module 150322 and duplicate the combined controldata and then send the control data duplicates respectively from thefirst port and the second port. The first HDLC software module 150321 isconfigured to obtain, from the queue, downlink control datacorresponding to the first group of radio access technology, accordingto the HDLC address in the control data in the queue and the saved HDLCaddress allocated by the first REC to the RE. The second HDLC softwaremodule 150322 is further configured to obtain, from the queue, downlinkcontrol data corresponding to the second group of radio accesstechnology, according to the HDLC address in the control data in thequeue and the saved HDLC address allocated by the second REC to the RE.

To obtain and save the HDLC address, the first HDLC software module150321 is further configured to receive an HDLC link setup messagebroadcast by the first REC, where the HDLC link setup message includesthe hop number corresponding to the first group of radio accesstechnology supported by the RE and HDLC address that is corresponding tothe hop number and is allocated by the first REC; and obtain the HDLCaddress corresponding to the hop number corresponding to the first groupof radio access technology supported by the RE and save the obtainedHDLC address. The second HDLC software module 150322 is furtherconfigured to receive an HDLC link setup message broadcasted by thesecond REC, where the HDLC link setup message includes the hop numbercorresponding to the second group of radio access technology supportedby the RE and HDLC address that is corresponding to the hop number andis allocated by the second REC; and obtain the HDLC addresscorresponding to the hop number corresponding to the second group ofradio access technology supported by the RE and save the obtained HDLCaddress.

The CPRI link provided in the preceding embodiment of the presentinvention is in a dual-star link mode. The RE determines the radioaccess technologies supported respectively by the RE's two ports, andtransmits service data corresponding to the radio access technologiesfrom the two ports to ensure that the RE can transmit the service datanormally when the base station supports multiple radio accesstechnologies. In addition, the RE can transmit the control data normallyaccording to this embodiment when the base station supports multipleradio access technologies.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a radio equipmentcontroller (REC) whose structure is shown as in FIG. 16. Referring toFIG. 16, the REC includes an interface module 1601, a signal processingmodule 1602, and a software module 1603. The software module 1603includes a low-level software module 16031, an HDLC software module16032, and a high-level software module 16033.

The interface module 1601 is configured to receive service data sent bya peer REC through an RE, and obtain uplink service data correspondingto radio access technologies supported by the REC. When the service datais sent, and passes through the RE, the uplink service data that iscorresponding to the radio access technology supported by the REC and issent by the RE to the REC is added to the service data.

The signal processing module 1602 is configured to receive, from theinterface module 1601, the uplink service data corresponding to theradio access technologies supported by the REC.

In order to send control data, the interface module 1601 is furtherconfigured to receive the control data, and the HDLC software module16032 is configured to obtain the control data corresponding to theradio access technologies supported by the REC from the control datareceived by the interface module 1601.

In order to determine a link mode, the interface module 1601 is furtherconfigured to receive L1 information from the first port, where the L1information includes the slot ID of the peer REC and the hop number ofthe peer REC. The high-level software module 16033 is configured to readthe slot ID and hop number of the peer REC through the low-levelsoftware module 16031, and determine, according to the slot ID of thepeer REC, that the group of radio access technology supported by thepeer REC and group of radio access technology supported by the RE C aredifferent; and determine that the link mode is a bidirectional link modeor a dual-star mode according to the hop number, and control theinterface module 1601 through the low-level software module 16031 tosend the L1 information, where the L1 information includes indicationinformation about the determined link mode.

Or, in order to determine the link mode, the interface module 1601 isfurther configured to receive L1 information from the first port, wherethe L1 information includes indication information about the radioaccess technologies supported by the peer REC and the hop number. Thehigh-level software module 16033 is configured to read, through thelow-level software module 16031 the indication information about theradio access technologies supported by the peer REC and the hop number,determine, according to the indication information about the radioaccess technology supported by the peer REC, that the group of radioaccess technology supported by the peer REC and the group of radioaccess technology supported by the REC are different, and determine thata link is a bidirectional link mode or a dual-star mode according to thehop number, and control the interface module 1601 through the low-levelsoftware module 16031 to send the L1 information, where the L1information includes indication information about the determined linkmode.

Optionally, the high-level software module 16033 is further configuredto report an alarm indicating that the link mode is abnormal when thedetermined link mode is different from a preconfigured link mode.

According to the preceding embodiment, the REC can obtain, from thereceived service data, the uplink service data corresponding to theradio access technologies supported by the REC, and discard the servicedata that does not belong to the REC to ensure that the base station cansupport multiple radio access technologies.

It is understandable to those skilled in the art that all or part of thesteps in the preceding methods may be implemented by a programinstructing relevant hardware. The programs may be stored in a computerreadable storage medium. The storage medium may be a read only memory(ROM), random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or a compact disk.

The above describe the base station supporting multiple radio accesstechnologies and the data transmission method on the CPRI link accordingto the embodiments of the present invention. The principle andimplementation method for the present invention has been describedthrough some exemplary embodiments. The preceding embodiments merelyhelp to understand the methods and the core spirit of the presentinvention. Further, according to the concept of the present invention,those skilled in the art can make various modifications under theimplementation method and application scope. Accordingly, the content ofthe specification of the present invention is not intended to limit thepresent invention.

1. A multi-mode base station, comprising: one or more radio equipments(REs) each having a first port and a second port; a first radioequipment controller (REC) supporting a first radio access technology;and a second REC supporting a second radio access technology, whereinthe first REC is configured to send downlink data corresponding to thefirst radio access technology to the RE; the RE is configured toreceive, through a first port of the RE, the downlink data from thefirst REC, configured to obtain, from the received downlink data, databelonging to the RE, configured to combine uplink data corresponding tothe second radio access technology with the received downlink data fromthe first REC, and to send the combined data through a second port ofthe RE; and the second REC is configured to receive the combined datasent by the RE through the second port, and obtain the uplink datacorresponding to the second group radio access technology from thereceived data.
 2. The base station according to claim 1, wherein thefirst REC is further configured to determine, according to a slot IDreceived from a link, that the first radio access technology supportedby the first REC is different from the second radio access technologysupported by the second REC, determine, according to a hop numberreceived from the link, that a mode of the link is a bidirectional linkmode, and transmit layer 1 (L1) information to the RE, wherein the L1information comprises indication information of the bidirectional linkmode.
 3. The base station according to claim 2, wherein the first REC isfurther configured to report an alarm indicating that the link mode isabnormal when the determined bidirectional link mode is different from apreconfigured link mode.
 4. The base station according to claim 1,wherein the first REC is further configured to determine, according toradio access technology information received from a link, that the firstradio access technology supported by the first REC is different from thesecond radio access technology supported by the second REC, determine,according to a hop number received from the link, that a mode of thelink is a bidirectional link mode, and send Layer 1 (L1) information tothe RE, wherein the L1 Layer information comprises indicationinformation about the bidirectional link mode.
 5. The base stationaccording to claim 4, wherein the first REC is further configured toreport an alarm indicating that the link mode is abnormal when thedetermined link mode is different from a preconfigured link mode.
 6. Thebase station according to claim 1, wherein the first REC is furtherconfigured to send a first Layer 1 (L1) information carrying a slot IDof the first REC, and configured to broadcast a first high-level datalink control (HDLC) link setup message comprising a slot ID of the firstREC and indication information about the first radio access technology;the RE is further configured to receive, from the first REC, the firstL1 information and the first HDLC link setup message, and configured todetermine, according to the slot ID in the first L1 information beingthe same with the slot ID in the first HDLC link setup message, that thefirst port, through which the RE receive the first L1 information,supports the first group of radio access technology.
 7. The base stationaccording to claim 1, wherein the second REC is further configured totransmit a second Layer 1 (L1) information carrying a slot ID of thesecond REC, and broadcast a second high-level data link control (HDLC)link setup message comprising a slot ID of the second REC and indicationinformation about the second radio access technology; and the RE isfurther configured to receive, from the second REC, the second L1information and the second HDLC link setup message, and configured todetermine, according to the slot ID in the second L1 information beingthe same with the slot ID in the second HDLC link setup message, thatthe second port, through which the RE receives the second L1 informationfrom the first REC, supports the second radio access technology.
 8. Thebase station according to claim 1, wherein the first REC is furtherconfigured to send a third Layer 1 (L1) information including a slot IDof the first REC and information about the first radio accesstechnology; and the RE is configured to receive the third L1 informationfrom the first REC, and configured to determine, according to thereceived third L1 information, that the first port, through which the REreceives the L1 information, supports the first radio access technology.9. The base station according to claim 1, wherein the second REC isfurther configured to send a fourth Layer 1 (L1) information including aslot ID of the second REC and information about the second radio accesstechnology; and the RE is further configured to receive the fourth L1information sent from the second REC, and configured to determine,according to the received fourth L1 information, that the second port,through which the RE receives the fourth L1 information from the secondREC, supports the second radio access technology.
 10. The base stationaccording to claim 1, wherein the second REC is further configured tosend downlink data corresponding to the second radio access technologyto the RE; the RE is further configured to receive, through a secondport of the RE, the downlink data from the second REC, configured toobtain, from the received downlink data, data belonging to the RE,configured to combine uplink data corresponding to the first radioaccess technology with the received downlink data from the second REC,and to send the combined data through a first port of the RE; and thefirst REC is configured to receive the combined data sent by the REthrough the first port, and obtain the uplink data corresponding thefirst group radio access technology from the received data.
 11. The basestation according to claim 11, wherein the first radio access technologyis any one or combination of global system for mobile communications(GSM), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), worldwide interoperability for microwave access(WIMAX), and long term evolution (LTE), and the second radio accesstechnology is any one or combination of GSM, UMTS, CDMA, WIMAX and LTE.12. A multi-mode base station, comprising: a radio equipment (RE) havinga first port and a second port; a first radio equipment controller (REC)supporting a first radio access technology; and a second REC supportinga second radio access technology, wherein, the first REC is configuredto send downlink data corresponding to the first radio access technologyto the RE, and configured to receive, from the RE, uplink datacorresponding to the first radio access technology; the second REC isconfigured to send downlink data corresponding to the second group ofradio access technology to the RE, and configured to receive, from theRE, uplink data corresponding to the second radio access technology. 13.The base station according to claim 12, wherein the first REC is furtherconfigured to determine, according to a slot ID received from a link,that the first radio access technology supported by the first REC isdifferent from the second radio access technology supported by thesecond REC, determine that a mode of the a link is a bidirectional linkmode according to a hop number received from the link, and send, to theRE, layer 1 (L1) information including indication information of thedual-star link mode.
 14. The base station according to claim 13, whereinthe first REC is further configured to report an alarm indicating thatthe link mode is abnormal when the determined dual-star link mode isdifferent from a preconfigured link mode.
 15. The base station accordingto claim 12, wherein the first REC is further configured to determine,according to radio access technology information received from a link,that the first radio access technology supported by the first REC isdifferent from the second radio access technology supported by thesecond REC, configured to determine that a mode of the link is adual-star link mode according to a hop number received from the link,and configured send Layer 1 (L1) information to the RE, wherein the L1Layer information comprises indication information about the determineddual-star link mode.
 16. The base station according to claim 15, whereinthe first REC is further configured to report an alarm indicating thatthe link mode is abnormal when the determined dual-star link mode isdifferent from a preconfigured link mode.
 17. The base station accordingto claim 12, wherein the first REC is further configured to send a firstLayer 1 (L1) information carrying a slot ID of the first REC, andconfigured to broadcast a first high-level data link control (HDLC) linksetup message comprising a slot ID of the first REC and indicationinformation about the first radio access technology; the RE is furtherconfigured to receive, from the first REC, the first L1 information andthe first HDLC link setup message, and configured to determine,according to the slot ID in the first L1 information being the same withthe slot ID in the first HDLC link setup message, that the first port,through which the RE receive the first L1 information, supports thefirst group of radio access technology.
 18. The base station accordingto claim 12, wherein the second REC is further configured to transmit asecond Layer 1 (L1) information carrying a slot ID of the second REC,and broadcast a second high-level data link control (HDLC) link setupmessage comprising a slot ID of the second REC and indicationinformation about the second radio access technology; and the RE isfurther configured to receive, from the second REC, the second L1information and the second HDLC link setup message, and configured todetermine, according to the slot ID in the second L1 information beingthe same with the slot ID in the second HDLC link setup message, thatthe second port, through which the RE receives the second L1 informationfrom the first REC, supports the second radio access technology.
 19. Thebase station according to claim 12, wherein the first REC is furtherconfigured to send a third Layer 1 (L1) information including a slot IDof the first REC and information about the first radio accesstechnology; and the RE is configured to receive the L1 information fromthe first REC, and configured to determine, according to the received L1information, that the first port, through which the RE receives the L1information, supports the first radio access technology.
 20. The basestation according to claim 12, wherein the second REC is furtherconfigured to send a fourth Layer 1 (L1) information including a slot IDof the second REC and information about the second radio accesstechnology; and the RE is further configured to receive the L1information sent from the second REC, and configured to determine,according to the received L1 information, that the second port, throughwhich the RE receives the second L1 information from the second REC,supports the second radio access technology.
 21. The base stationaccording to claim 12, wherein the first radio access technology is anyone or any combination of global system for mobile communications (GSM),universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), worldwide interoperability for microwave access(WIMAX), and long term evolution (LTE), and the second radio accesstechnology is any one or combination of GSM, UMTS, CDMA, WIMAX and LTE.